Alexandria 










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ALEXANDRIA 


Compiled by workers of the 
Writers’ Program of the Work 
Projects Administration in the 
state of Virginia. 


AMERICAN GUIDE SERIES 


FEDERAL WORKS AGENCY 

JOHN M. CARMODY, Administrator 


WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION 

F. C. HARRINGTON, Commissioner 
FLORENCE KERR, Assistant Commissicner 
WILLIAM A. SMITH, State Administrator 


SPONSORED BY 


THE YOUNG WOMEN’S CLUB OF ALEXANDRIA 

19 3 9 


Copyright 1939 by Young Women’s Club of Alexandria 



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PREFACE 

This guide to Alexandria is the first book on a Virginia city to be pre¬ 
pared by the Writers’ Program of the Work Projects Administration. 
It is also the first Virginia contribution to the American Guide Series, though 
The Virginia Guide and A History of the Negro in Virginia—soon to be 
published—were completed before the Alexandria book was begun. 

Because Virginia’s northernmost Tidewater area along the Potomac was 
twice in exile, we are happy to strengthen the ties that bind the regained 
province to its state, which was never quite content to have Alexandria a part 
of the District of Columbia and inexpressibly sad during the ’sixties when 
Alexandria was capital of the "Restored Government of Virginia.” 

Writing this book, therefore, has been a labor of love. The research 
was accomplished by several workers under the supervision of H. Ragland 
Eubank and John Sherwood Widdicombe. The architectural descriptions 
were written by Mr. Widdicombe. The book was cast into its final form by 
the state director, with Mr. Eubank and Mr. Widdicombe as consultants. 
Because much more might have been written about Alexandria, a highly 
selective method was necessarily used in the presentation of material. Per¬ 
haps later we shall be privileged in a longer book to write more about the city 
that has returned to Virginia—never again, we hope, to be sent into exile. 

November 1, 1939. Eudora Ramsay Richardson, State Supervisor 


<£>ClA A 323048 


DEC 28 1939 




THE PRESENT SCENE 




Alexandria, richest among Virginia cities in old houses of natural charm, 
is spread out in orderly fashion on ground rising between marshes along the 
southern shore of the broad Potomac about six miles south of Washington. Its 
riverfront is washed by tides—not brackish, yet high enough to produce ex¬ 
tensive mud flats, over which the city is approached by causeways. The 
countryside, rolling from the river toward the Piedmont, is lovely in all 
seasons. 

Predominantly a city of wide tree-lined streets, Alexandria was laid out 
on a strictly gridiron plan. Many of the original brick sidewalks and sand¬ 
stone curbings remain in the older streets. Cobbled alleys run between 
poplar-lined brick walls. Brick is everywhere. Thickly set close to the side¬ 
walks are Georgian or early Federal houses of brick, in various mellow shades 
of red, of gray stucco, or of white weatherboarding and frequently gay with 
bright-colored shutters. Attractive doorways abound. Many leading into 
the larger houses are classically framed with excellently-proportioned pedi¬ 
ments, and others are recessed with delicate fanlights. Window openings are 
sharply accented by flat arches of chalk-white stone with heavy keys. A 
small, low entrance stoop reached usually by a few stone steps parallel to 
the facade, or by a greater number descending sidewise to the brick walk, is 
characteristic of smaller houses. Occasional and good examples of Greek 
Revival architecture provide the only formal porticoes in this city of "town- 
houses.” 

In rear gardens mimosas and arbors of grapes and wisteria give shade 
in sheltered courtyards or sunny gardens. Magnolias and tall box trees grow 
darkly here and there. Scores of houses from one to nearly two centuries 
old look as though the families of their builders had cared for them con¬ 
tinuously, painting and repairing whenever necessary—and, indeed, in many 
cases this is true. 

The streets running east reach the river abruptly. Probably the most 
attractive is the final block of Prince Street, sloping its cobbled way down 
between poplars and two actually "picturesque” rows of odd small houses— 
of red brick, painted brick, stucco, or white frame—appearing almost Medi¬ 
terranean with doors and shutters bright green, red, blue, or yellow. The 
waterfront with wooden wharves is a reminder that Alexandria was once 
considerable as a port. Ships sailed hence to Europe and the West Indies 
loaded with grain, tobacco, and other produce and returned with luxuries 
for the prosperous and lively townspeople. Here was the old fish market 
abandoned long ago, when hucksters, tricksters, and Punch and Judy shows, 
mingled with the marketers and fishermen. In a few small eating places 
some likeness can still be found to the jolly barrooms and taverns that once 
clustered around the port. 


3 



Although inconspicuous, except for the second largest freight classifi¬ 
cation yards in America, industry is substantially present in Alexandria. 
The most important enterprises are two fertilizer plants, but the largest in¬ 
dustry is a plant for the construction and repair of refrigerator cars. Smaller 
industries include shops connected wth the railroads, chemical works, an 
automobile assembly plant, iron works, foundries, a shirt factory, and brick 
and pottery works. Altogether, the city’s industrial payroll exceeds $6,000,- 
000 annually, and about thirty-six hundred workers are employed. 


HISTORICAL OUTLINE 

Though unfriendly Indians postponed settlement of Virginia’s upper¬ 
most tidewater fringe, in 1608 the inquisitive Captain John Smith explored 
the Potomac River to its falls. Here, between the Chesapeake Bay and the 
falls, he found a strip of territory along the south shore called Chickawane 
by the Indians who occupied it. In 1645 the area became a part of vast 
Northumberland, the mother of many counties. Soon thereafter the Colonial 
government made grants of land to prospective settlers. 

Since the Dogue, who lived in the vicinity of present Alexandria, could 
scarcely be viewed as pleasant neighbors, estates here were not immediately 
settled. The site of Alexandria was included in a patent that Governor 
William Berkeley issued in 1669 to Robert Howsing for "six thousand acres 
of land situate lying and being upon the freshes of the Potomac River on the 
west side.” That year Charles II converted all Northern Virginia into the 
Northern Neck Proprietary. The patent for land a few miles south of 
Howsing’s estate for which John Washington—great-grandfather of George 
Washington—and Nicholas Spencer applied in 1669 was not granted until 
1674 and then as the first proprietary patent issued by Thomas, Lord Cul¬ 
peper, who had acquired control of the vast domain. John Alexander, who 
surveyed both grants, purchased the Howsing estate in 1670 and settled just 
north of the present city. 

But life on the southern bank of the peaceful Potomac continued full of 
hazards: the Dogue persisted in being very bad Indians; and the Susque- 
hannock, having been driven from the North by the Seneca, crossed the 
river and were guilty of exasperating depredations. A concerted campaign 
in 1675 conducted against the Indians along Piscataway Creek in Maryland 
ultimately resulted in the annihilation of the troublesome Susquehannock. 
Then it was that Colonel John Washington, leading Virginia troops, joined 
with Maryland forces under Captain John Truman, determined to put an 
end to marauding. The Susquehannock, justly infuriated because several 
Indians were murdered during a truce, evaded the militia and attacked 
Virginia’s entire western frontier. Under the leadership of young Nathaniel 
Bacon, the Susquehannock were routed and permanent settlement was made 
possible in northern Virginia, though more than a score of years passed be¬ 
fore the Dogue were finally driven from the area. 


4 


After the turn of the century plantation life in old Chickawane began 
to assume the even tenor of its Colonial way. Comfortable homes were 
built; and acres were profitably planted in tobacco, which was rolled in great 
hogsheads toward the river along ancient Indian trails converted quickly 
into "rolling roads.” 

Thomas Pearson, who acquired part of the Alexander tract north of 
Great Hunting Creek and called his estate Pearson’s Island, was among the 
first to settle where Alexandria now stands. In this northernmost section of 
Virginia, as elsewhere throughout the colony, no town came immediately 
into being. In 1730, however, the General Assembly directed that a ware¬ 
house be established south of Hunting Creek "upon Broadwater’s land.” 
The site having been found unsuitable, in 1732 "a rolling house” that had 
been built "upon Simon Pearson’s land upon the upper side of Great Hunt¬ 
ing Creek” was "accounted” a public warehouse. In 1740 a public ferry—a 
link in the King’s Highway, the north-south thoroughfare—was established 
from "the plantation of John Hareford in Doeg’s Neck ... to Prince George 
County in Maryland and from Hunting Creek warehouse, on land of Hugh 
West ... to Frazier’s Point in Maryland.” Though other warehouses were 
authorized on Pohick, Occoquan, and Quantico creeks to the south and "on 
the land of the Honorable Thomas Lee, Esquire, at the Falls of the 
Potowmack,” by 1742—when Fairfax County was formed from Prince 
William—Hunting Creek Warehouse held a position of first importance as 
a place for the inspection, storage, and shipment of tobacco. 

The town of Alexandria, named in honor of the pioneer John Alexander, 
was authorized in 1748. That year the General Assembly, recognizing "that 
a town at Hunting Creek Warehouse would be commodious for trade and 
navigation and greatly tend to the ease and advantage of frontier inhabi¬ 
tants,” directed that sixty acres, part of the lands belonging to Philip 
Alexander, John Alexander, and Hugh West "on the south side of the 
Potomac river” be laid out as a town for the County of Fairfax. Among 
members of the self-perpetuating board of trustees then created were Thomas, 
Lord Fairfax, William Fairfax, George William Fairfax, and Lawrence 
Washington—George Washington’s half-brother. The county surveyor, 
John West, who laid off the sixty acres, was instructed to begin the bound¬ 
aries "above the warehouse” and extend the line "down the meanders” of 
the river to a specified point and thence "back into the woods for the 
quantity aforesaid.” Beginning the work the following year, West was 
assisted by seventeen year-old George Washington. On July 13, 1749, 
thirty-one of the eighty-four half-acre lots that had been plotted were sold 
at auction for an average of nineteen and a half pistoles each, a pistole 
amounting to about four dollars. Among the purchasers were George 
Washington’s half-brothers, Lawrence and Augustine Washington, and 
several Scottish immigrants who later became Alexandria’s leading mer¬ 
chants—among them John Carlyle, John Dalton, and William Ramsay. 
Two lots, however, were reserved for the market square. Though the town 
was formally Alexandria, it was for several years colloquially Belhaven. 


5 


In 1754 the seat of Fairfax County was established here. Soon Alexandria, 
favorably situated with respect to trade, outstripped its rivals—Dumfries in 
Prince William County on Quantico Creek, a town also authorized in 1748, 
and Colchester on the Occoquan River, which had its beginning four years 
later. By 1762 all lots in Alexandria were "already built upon, except such 
of them as are situated in a low wet marsh.” Then, because "divers traders 
and others” sought sites for homes and business establishments, two new 
streets were added to the ten originally surveyed by West and Washington. 

Alexandria owes its early industrial prosperity to commerce and was 
soon exporting not only tobacco but quantities of wheat to the West Indies 
and to England. That flour was being shipped from Virginia as early as 
1748 is attested by a law passed that year charging inspectors with the duty 
of seeing that flour "intended to be exported, or sold for exportation, is 
clean and pure, not mixed with meal of Indian corn, pease, or any other 
grain or pulse.” Flour mills, established on the streams nearby, enabled 
Virginia to free itself from dependence upon Maryland and Pennsylvania 
millers and helped Alexandria to achieve a prosperity that brought about 
many a gracious town house still surviving. In 1781 Alexandria was first on 
Virginia’s flour inspection list. Tobacco, however, kept pace with wheat. 
The first warehouses proving of inadequate capacity, another was erected in 
1764 at Point Lumley. Important among the new wharves that were soon 
needed was the one built in 1759 by the partners, Carlyle and Dalton. 

From the back country great caravans of covered wagons lumbered in, 
laden with wheat and other cereals, and returned with merchandise from 
abroad. Accordingly, in 1772 the General Assembly passed an act requiring 
the counties of Fairfax, Loudoun, Berkeley, and Frederick to lay a special 
levy upon the tithables to keep in repair the "great and direct roads leading 
from Vestal’s and William’s gaps” to Alexandria and Colchester, because 
the roads "from the north western parts” of the colony "by means of the 
great number of waggons which use the same are rendered almost impassible.” 

Travelers who came along these roads to buy or sell or merely to visit 
were entertained in homes or by hosts of the many taverns that were run for 
profit and for pleasure. At City Tavern (later Gadsby’s), the Royal George, 
and the Rainbow Inn citizens and guests drank to the health of loyalist or 
rebel, swapped merry yarns, and discussed both politics and prices. A legis¬ 
lative enactment of 1752 provided that fairs be held at Alexandria each May 
and October "for the sale and vending of all manner of cattle, victuals, 
provisions, goods, wares, and merchandize whatsoever.” Then for five days 
twice a year all criminals except murderers had need to fear only the punish¬ 
ment inflicted by their own consciences, for the kindly General Assembly 
enacted that "persons coming to, being at, or going from the same, together 
with their cattle, goods, wares, and merchandize, shall be exempt and privi¬ 
leged from all arrests, attachments, and executions whatsoever, except for 
capital offences, breaches of the peace, or for any controversies, suits, and 
quarrels that may arise and happen during the said time.” 


6 


Very early in its career Alexandria played a conspicuous part in epoch- 
making events. Here it was that George Washington recruited his first com¬ 
mand—150 troops whom he drilled in Market Square before leading them 
in 1754 against the French, "unjust invaders of his Majesty’s lands in Ohio.” 
Here in 1755 the governors of Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, 
and Maryland conferred with the British general, Edward Braddock, con¬ 
cerning the proposed campaign against the French posts on the Ohio. From 
Alexandria General Braddock started on his ill-fated journey westward. 
Attached to his staff was young Colonel Washington, who assumed com¬ 
mand of the British and Colonial forces after the death of the general. 

Times were increasingly troublous in his majesty’s oldest colony. The 
same Virginia that had fought for representative government under the rule 
of the London Company, that had dared in 1635 to "thrust out” a royal 
governor because he refused to listen to the mandates of the people, that had 
rallied under the banner of America’s first rebel, young Nathaniel Bacon, 
was leading the colonies in protesting the high-handed methods of an English 
king. The General Assembly appointed in 1759 a committee of correspond¬ 
ence, which passed on to England the revolutionary thinking of the colonists. 
In 1763 at Hanover Courthouse, much south of Alexandria but spiritually 
near, a fiery chap by the name of Patrick Henry, defending the people against 
the claims of a privileged clergy, hurled blasphemy toward the sacred Crown. 
Two years later, under the spell cast by the same young man’s oratory, the 
General Assembly adopted resolutions against the hated Stamp Act. 
Alexandria listened and applauded. In 1774 when the revolutionary pot was 
boiling fast and furiously, citizens of Fairfax County assembled at a meeting, 
over which George Washington presided, and adopted the celebrated Fair¬ 
fax Resolves, drawn up by George Mason from Gunston Hall nearby, declar- 
ing against taxation without representation, favoring a uniform plan of 
defence, urging that every "little jarring dispute between these colonies 
should be buried in eternal oblivion,” sanctioning the non-importation agree¬ 
ment, opposing the slave trade, and commissioning George Washington and 
Charles Broadwater to present to the "Convention at Williamsburg on the 
first day of August next . . . these resolves as the sense of the people of this 
country.” When revolution came at last, Alexandria furnished the great 
military leader, George Washington, whose country home was nearby and 
who maintained a house within the town. 

In 1779 Alexandria was incorporated as a town, its territory having been 
extended westward to include the present Washington Street, and forthwith 
elected its first mayor, Robert T. Hooe. After the Revolution the citizens 
turned again to profitable enterprise and cultural advancement. In 1785 
the town’s limits were again extended—southward to Hunting Creek; west¬ 
ward "one mile west of the Courthouse on Market Square; and on the 
north to Four Mile Run.” That year the General Assembly passed a special 
act providing for the paving of Alexandria’s principal street. The cobble¬ 
stones, then laid, were taken up a century later and converted into the bases 
of monuments and markers. The workmen were Hessian prisoners, whose 


7 


labor was procured by Dr. William Brown, one of the first surgeons general 
of the Revolutionary Army and compiler during the war of the first American 
Pharmacopoeia for Use of Army Hospitals. Other important happenings 
followed each other in quick succession. In 1783 a Masonic lodge was 
organized; in 1784 the Alexandria Gazette was started, now the oldest daily 
newspaper of continuous existence in the United States; and in 1785 an 
academy was founded, to which George Washington made annual gifts. 
In Alexandria in 1785 took place the epochal meeting between commissioners 
from Maryland and Virginia, which continued its sessions at Mount Vernon 
and led to the Annapolis Convention of 1786 and to the Constitutional Con¬ 
vention in Philadelphia the next year. 

Though Alexandria was prosperous in 1790, its inhabitants numbered 
but 2,748. The year before, moreover, Virginia had given it away as part of 
the territory, ceded along with Maryland’s gift, to form the District of 
Columbia. Its stable population must have been daily augmented by visitors, 
for one of its new taverns—the Washington at the intersection of Washing¬ 
ton and King Streets—advertised "stabling for a hundred horses,” and an¬ 
other—the Red Lion at the corner of King and St. Asaph Streets—offered 
"fine carriages, handsome horses and careful drivers” as inducements to 
attract "genteel boarders.” 

During the first ten years of exile from Virginia, however, the town 
almost doubled its size. Apparently, Alexandria was content at first to 
belong only to the United States. In 1791 the District of Columbia was laid 
off—a hundred square miles, the gift of Maryland and Virginia. With 
fitting Masonic rites its southern corner was marked by a stone, which still 
may be seen at Jones’ Point. The versatile Dr. Elisha Cullen Dick, con¬ 
sulting physician during Washington’s last illness and painter of two por¬ 
traits of Washington, presided over the ceremonies. Dr. Dick’s friend, 
however, the new President of the United States, was away on his grand 
tour of the Southern states. Incidentally, the Maryland side of the Potomac 
was chosen for the location of the capital, for President Washington, having 
been authorized by Congress to select the exact site, feared that he might be 
accused of attempting to boost the value of his own property. As a part 
of the District, Alexandria enjoyed a mild boom, with no immediate un¬ 
pleasant aftermath. Government officials came to live within its corporate 
limits and built fine homes. On November 23, 1792 the Bank of Alexandria 
became the first in Virginia, antedating the Bank of Richmond by exactly 
thirty days. 

Though the population and prosperity graphs continued on their up¬ 
ward trend and though Alexandria came unscathed through the War of 1812 
by permitting the invaders to help themselves to supplies, nostalgia for the 
Old Dominion was soon translated into efforts to achieve retrocession of the 
Virginia part of the District. The movement was temporarily quashed, 
however, when a few residents met and resolved "That a cession of the 
people and territory of Alexandria county to the state of Virginia would 
be injurious to their prosperity and ought not to be made.” Likewise in 


1824—the year that Alexandria had its most disastrous fire—a referendum 
resulted in a victory for the opponents of retrocession. In 1846, however, 
a second referendum showed how completely sentiment had changed, for the 
people voted in overwhelming majority to be returned to Virginia. In the 
words of R. M. T. Hunter before the House of Representatives, the ceded 
area had "been treated like a child separated from the natural, and neglected 
by, the foster mother.” In 1847 the General Assembly received its own 
once again, constituted Alexandria County, and made the town its seat. 

Meanwhile, Alexandria had become somewhat an educational center. 
In 1823 the Virginia Episcopal Theological Seminary was founded nearby. 
In 1825 a school was begun by Benjamin Hallowell, a Quaker active not only 
in opposing slavery but in founding a lyceum for the promotion of intellect¬ 
ual pursuits. In 1839 the Episcopal High School had been established on 
property adjoining the seminary. 

A bigger and better era dawned immediately after retrocession. In 
1852 Alexandria acquired the status of city and, like all other cities in 
Virginia, became politically independent of its county. Two years later the 
Orange and Alexandria Railroad was opened from Alexandria to Gordons- 
ville, where connection was made by the Virginia Central with the eastern 
base of the Blue Ridge. In 1860 the population of the city was 12,652. 

Yet the preceding year, when Ufiited States troops commanded by 
Colonel Robert E. Lee had gone from Alexandria to Harpers Ferry to quell 
John Brown’s raid, citizens must have sensed, should sectional difficulties 
result in war, that the situation of Alexandria would be precarious—close as 
the city was to the national capital. In April, 1861 Robert E. Lee, leaving 
the community to assume command of Virginia forces, was followed by 
many Alexandrians, but at the beginning of the war the city was again 
severed from Virginia and remained in Federal hands until after the defeat 
of the Confederacy. On August 26, 1863, after West Virginia had been 
formed and admitted into the Union, with Wheeling as its capital, Alexandria 
was made the capital of the "Restored Government of Virginia.” 

Alexandria’s second exile had its compensatory features, for the city 
escaped the destruction that the rest of Virginia suffered and was spared the 
horrors of Reconstruction. However, several decades of depression followed 
the war. The Baltimore and Ohio Railway had diverted the coal trade from 
Alexandria. Baltimore, with its fleet of clipper ships, waxed while the older 
city waned. But Alexandria was awaiting a rejuvenation it could not forsee. 
Good roads and the automobile brought Washington nearer. Americans, 
having lived through the eras of Victorian atrocities and the bungalow, were 
again looking with favor upon Colonial and Early Republican architecture. 
During the World War Washington’s new officialdom: discovered Alexandria. 
No wanton prosperity had caused old houses to be destroyed; no industrial 
boom had marred the pleasant antiquity of the little city on the Potomac. 
Here was offered escape after work days in the nation’s capital; and here was 
a haven for the retired government official and army officer. Gracious 


9 



City Hall and Market House 



^Alexandria- IVashington Lodge Room 




mansions and. small town houses that had been built in a less hurried age by 
people of good taste were restored one by one, and new homes were patterned 
after them. Alexandria lives again, fresh paint upon shutters and beautiful 
doors, brass knockers shining in the sun, old walnut and mahogany furnish¬ 
ings within the homes, its few scarcely beautiful "flounder-type” houses 
allowed to remain because they are quaint and peculiarly Alexandrian. The 
old families and the Foreign Legion, as the newcomers are called, make up 
the population of a city that is still wholly Virginian. 


POINTS OF INTEREST 

1. The CITY HALL and MARKET HOUSE (open daily), S. side Cam¬ 
eron St., between Royal and Fairfax Sts., covering half a city block, resembles 
a series of buildings and encloses a market square. This red brick structure 
with white trim is designed in imitation of eighteenth century styles. A tall 
spire on one facade and a section beneath a vast mansard roof on another 
are centered between corner pavilions. 

An acre here was reserved for a market place when the town was laid out 
in 1749, and after Alexandria was made the seat of Fairfax County, a court¬ 
house (1752-54) was erected upon it. About the same time a market house 
was built, the ground floor of which was occupied by the town’s first school. 
In 1782, after the town had been incorporated, a town hall, a large brick 
structure, was built upon a massive arcade in the northwest corner of this 
square. Extensive additions were made in 1817 and served until the whole 
structure burned in 1871. The present building arose two years later. When 
the District of Columbia, including Alexandria, was laid out in 1791, the 
courthouse was pulled down and the clerk given "leave to use the rooms 
lately occupied by the Alexandria School as an office for the . . . county 
records and . . . title to the bricks of the County Court House.” The 
county office remained in the school rooms until 1801, when Congress 
assumed jurisdiction over the District and the county seat was moved to 
Providence (now Fairfax). From 1847 to 1898 Alexandria was the seat of 
the new Alexandria County, renamed Arlington in 1920. A public market 
has been held regularly on this square ever since the Alexandria fairs— 
special occasions for trading—were established in 1752. 

The ALEXANDRIA-WASHINGTON LODGE OF MASONS occu¬ 
pies the mansard-roofed section of the building on Cameron Street. This 
lodge was chartered in 1783 as Lodge Number 29 by the "Grand Lodge of 
Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania.” Its present charter was granted 
in 1788 "by Governor Edmund Randolph, Grand Master of the Most Ancient 
and Honorable Society of Freemasons in Virginia” and "George Washington, 
Esq., late Commander in Chief of the American forces, and all other brethren 
as may be admitted to associate with the officers of the fraternity chosen to 
be a just, true and regular Lodge of Freemasons by the name, title and 
designation of the Alexandria Lodge Number 22.” In 1805, after Washing- 


11 

















ton’s death, Randolph as Grand Master issued an order permitting the 
organization to be designated Alexandria-Washington Lodge Number 22. 
Meetings were first held at Lamb’s Tavern, which stood on Union Street 
between Prince and Duke Streets, and after Lamb’s burned, at other taverns 
until a Masonic hall was erected on the present site in 1802. Like the town 
hall, this was incorporated in the enlargements of 1817. This Lodge partici¬ 
pated in ceremonies at the laying of the cornerstone of the Alexandria 
Academy in 1785; when the stone marking the southeast corner of the 
District of Columbia was laid in 1791; and on September 18, 1793 at the 
laying of the cornerstone of the Federal Capitol. On the latter occasion, 
Dr. Elisha Cullen Dick, Worshipful Master, invited Washington, then 
President of the United States and past Worshipful Master, to conduct the 
ceremony. The inscribed silver plate that Washington deposited with the 
cornerstone states that this lodge was present and participated in the 
ceremony. 

Included in the exhibits of the MUSEUM (open 9-5 weekdays; adm. 
10c) are the two charters of the lodge; the silver trowel used by Washington 
in laying the cornerstone of the Capitol; the high-backed, leather-covered 
chair he presented and used as Worshipful Master; his personal Masonic 
relics; the clock from Mount Vernon, stopped by Dr. Dick at the moment 
of Washington’s death, with its hands still pointing to twenty minutes past 
ten. Among several portraits here are two of Washington, an oil by C. P. 
Polk and a pastel done by William Williams of Philadelphia in 1794 and 
valued highly as the truest likeness of Washington; an oil of Lafayette at 
twenty-seven by Charles Willson Peale; a distinguished one of Thomas, sixth 
Lord Fairfax, by Sir Joshua Reynolds; and two steel engravings: one of 
Washington by G. W. Ladd and another of Louis XVI, which the king sent 
to Washington. 

The LEAD WEIGHTS AND BRASS MEASURES displayed at the 
entrance to the lodge rooms are believed to be the only complete set of early 
English standards in the United States. Each is inscribed "The County of 
Fairfax 1744.” 

2. GADSBY’S TAVERN (open 9-5' weekdays, 2-5 Sun.; adm. 25c), 132 
N. Royal St., embraces two brick buildings with a courtyard in the rear. The 
smaller is the older and more handsome. Its two-story fagade in neat Flemish 
bond is cut across by a light stone string-course and broken up by nine rather 
small windows with heavy flat arches of stone. A refined cornice, with fret¬ 
work along the lowest molding and modillions, underscores a gable-roof 
pierced by three widely spaced dormers, gabled and accented by heavy key¬ 
stones. The centered doorway is framed in wood: fluted pilasters supporting 
a hollow pediment above an emphasized keystone set in the round arch of the 
transom window. This nicely proportioned entry and the closely spaced 
windows with large keys in their wing-like flat arches are typical of archi¬ 
tectural design in Alexandria during the latter half of the eighteenth century. 
On the corner of the block next to the older building is the tall, plain annex 
with three and a half stories beneath its steep gable-roof and with flat brick 


13 


arches above its windows. The off-center entrance has been remodelled in 
Victorian style. 

After years of neglect, both buildings—like the courtyard, where an 
eighteenth-century coach seems again to await horses—are being restored. 
The fine paneling in the ball room in the corner structure is now in the Met¬ 
ropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, but the interiors are still dis¬ 
tinguished by the extent and quality of their carved woodwork. Especially 
noteworthy are several mantelpieces with trim moldings, broken pediments, 
and graceful supporting consoles. Among rooms already restored are the 
ancient bar and the kitchen, where a very complete set of appropriate Colonial 
utensils is on exhibit. Many pieces of late Georgian furniture have been 
assembled in the tavern. 

The original structure, long known as City Tavern, was built in 1752. 
Here George Washington had his headquarters in 1754 while he assembled 
and drilled his first command at the beginning of the French and Indian 
War. The next year General Braddock made this tavern his headquarters. 
In 1788, when news arrived that New Hampshire and Virginia had at last 
ratified the Constitution, here was held the banquet of which Washington 
wrote: "No sooner had the citizens of Alexandria, who are Federal to a 
man, received the intelligence . . . than they determined to devote the day 
to festivity. . . . Thus the citizens of Alexandria, when convened, constituted 
the first public assembly in America which had the pleasure of pouring a 
libation to the prosperity of the General Government. ... I have just re¬ 
turned from assisting at the entertainment held at the City Tavern.” 

John Wise bought the tavern in 1792, built the larger annex, and hung 
out his shingle proclaiming: "The New City Hotel, at the Sign of the Bunch 
of Grapes.” Two years later, however, he was succeeded by John Gadsby, 
who presided here until 1818 and achieved a great reputation as host. 
Robert Sutcliff, the English Quaker, wrote while traveling: "The Inn I slept 
at is kept by an Englishman by the name of Gadsley (sic), and is conducted in 
a manner much superior to most inns in this country, or many in England.” 
But John Davis, another English traveler, paid the highest of many compli¬ 
ments Gadsby’s received in its heyday when he wrote, "Gadsby keeps the best 
house of entertainment in America.” It was Gadsby’s grandson, John Gadsby 
Chapman, born in Alexandria in 1808, who painted the "Baptism of Poca¬ 
hontas,” which hangs in the rotunda of the national Capitol. 

Here Washington attended celebrations of his last two birthdays, on 
February 12, 1798, and on February 11, 1799. His friends—always observ¬ 
ing his birthday according to the old calendar—held the celebration on the 
12th in 1798 because the 11th fell on Sunday. One day during the year 
before his death, orphans from the school he sponsored gathered at Gadsby’s 
before walking in procession to the Alexandria Academy for a "hand out” 
of clothes he provided. It was at Gadsby’s that the Alexandria-Washington 
Lodge of Masons entertained Lafayette in 1824. 


14 


3. The ANNE LEE MEMORIAL HOME FOR THE AGED (open by 
arrangement), NE. corner Fairfax and Cameron Sts., a four-story block of 
painted brick, stands on a lot purchased in 1749 by John Dalton, John 
Carlyle’s partner, and occupies the site of two houses—one built by Dalton 
and another on the corner by his son-in-law, Thomas Herbert, who ran it as 
a tavern. At different times later both George Leigh and John Wise were 
hosts here. The Herbert House, as it was originally called, was also known 
as The Bunch of Grapes. Here on April 16, 1789, George Washington—on 
his way to New York for the first inauguration—was toasted and publicly 
adaressed for the first time as "Mr. President” by Colonel Dennis Ramsay, 
Alexandria’s mayor. 

If ghosts from these merrier times still walk, perhaps they brighten dis¬ 
creetly rather than frighten the ladies who are now cared for here. 

4. The BANK OF ALEXANDRIA BUILDING (private), SE. corner Fair¬ 
fax and Cameron Sts., a small stone structure built in 1792, is now incor¬ 
porated in a large brick building erected in 1856. Original iron bars are in 
place across several windows of the present basement. Here the old vault 
is concealed by a wooden door and protected by a heavy studded iron inner 
door and thick brick walls. 

The Bank of Alexandria, chartered November 23, 1792, was the first to 
be authorized in Virginia. William Herbert, who married Sarah Carlyle and 
inherited the Carlyle House, was the town’s Mayor (1808-10) and the bank’s 
first president. Other incorporators were Robert T. Hooe, Alexandria’s 
first mayor; Charles Lee, brother of "Light Horse Harry” Lee and, later, 
second Attorney General of the United States; and the Lees’ brother-in-law, 
Philip R. Fendall. Washington was an original stockholder and a depositor. 

The large structure incorporating the little bank building, now an apart¬ 
ment house, was built as a hotel and when acquired in 1861 by a Mr. Green 
was called Green’s Mansion House. In 1883, when it had become the 
Braddock House, it was advertised as being "the largest and only first Class 
Hotel in the City” and described falsely as "connected with ... an old 
Colonial Stone house built in 1752 of material brought from Europe.” 

5. The CARLYLE HOUSE (open 9-5 weekdays; adm. 15c), 121 N. Fair¬ 
fax St., (entrance through Wagar Building), a large stuccoed brick building, 
stands on a stone platform, which extends out on the east side as a balus- 
traded terrace and once overlooked the river. Dark stone quoining 
follows up the corners of the two-story house to the eaves of a steep hip¬ 
roof, from which dormers protrude. These, like the window enframements 
throughout, are very simple in design. The front entrance on the west 
facade, however, is framed in gray stone at the head of a long flight of 
stone steps and is very imposing, with an elliptical fan-light and with the 
keystone in the round arch above inscribed with the motto of the Carlyle 
family: "Humilitate.” A wide porch on the terrace side, added long after 
the house was built, and other modifications have not improved the once 
dignified exterior, and the house is now closely hemmed-in by commercial 
buildings on all sides. 


15 








The Carlyle House 









The fully paneled interior is still distinguished by excellent carved wood¬ 
work, especially several mantelpieces and doorways. From the wide hall, 
which lacks the usual cornice, the stairway climbs in a continuous curve. 
The Blue Room, still painted Colonial blue, has over both doors pediments 
broken into sweeping scrolls, an elegant fireplace with pale blue marble 
facing and pilasters, which frame a molded panel above a shallow mantel, 
a low dado with Greek-key molding, a deep cornice with modillions and 
rosettes, and a graceful crystal chandelier. In the basement are dungeon¬ 
like cells that are attributed to an early fort but are much more likely spaces 
in which the builder—the town’s leading merchant—stored wines and other 
wares. A museum since 1914, the house contains a good collection of eight¬ 
eenth-century American furniture. 

The house was built in 1752 by John Carlyle, a native of Dumfrieshire, 
Scotland, who had come to Virginia in 1740. After helping to start the 
town of Dumfries to the southward, he helped to found Alexandria. It was 
not long before this thrifty merchant could afford to shelter himself com- 
modiously. In April, 1755 he offered his new house to General Braddock, 
Commodore Keppel, and the governors for the conference they held in 
Alexandria to plan the campaign against the French and Indians. Colonel 
Washington, whom Braddock had invited to be a member of his staff, was 
present at the conference. The Blue Room, where the meeting took place, 
was the scene of social gatherings attended by such notables as George 
Mason, Thomas Jefferson, Lafayette, Aaron Burr, and John Marshall. 

Colonel John Carlyle was commissioned in 1754 commissary of Virginia 
forces and in 1758 succeeded his father-in-law, Colonel William Fairfax, as 
collector of His Majesty’s revenues for the "South Potomac.” In 1773 he 
completed the building of Christ Church and began construction of the 
town’s first Presbyterian church. 

6. The RAMSAY HOUSE (open daily), NE. corner King and Fairfax 
Sts., the oldest house in Alexandria, is a brick building, two-and-a-half stories 
high, part of its walls covered with clapboard and part with flush boarding. 
Its roof is curbed on the front with three nearly flush dormers and slopes 
away in a broad half-gable to the rear. 

The house was built in 1749-51 on one of the town’s original lots—No. 
47—by William Ramsay, a native of Scotland, who settled here with other 
Scots: John Carlyle, John Dalton, and John Pagan—all among the town’s 
first trustees. William Ramsay became Alexandria’s first postmaster in 1770 
and at the first election of "Lord Mayor, Aldermen and Council” in 1780 
"Mr. William Ramsay, first projector and founder of this promising city, 
was invested with a gold chain and medal.” His son, Dennis Ramsay, born 
here in 1756, served as colonel in the Continental Army and in April, 1789 
delivered the town’s address to Washington when the latter stopped in 
Alexandria on his way to New York for his inauguration. Colonel Dennis 
Ramsay participated in the Masonic ceremony at Washington’s funeral in 
1799 and was one of the pallbearers. 


17 


7. The ALEXANDRIA GAZETTE BUILDING, 317 King St., a modern 
three-story structure of stone is the home of the oldest daily newspaper in 
the United States. The Alexandria Gazette was founded on another site 
in 1784 by George Richards SC Company and was published first on February 
5 as the Virginia Journal and Alexandria Advertiser. In its second year the 
young paper reported the meeting of delegates from Virginia and Maryland 
at Alexandria and Mount Vernon—the conference that led to the Phila¬ 
delphia Convention of 1787. In 1789 it reported Washington’s election and 
gave an account of his triumphal procession from Mount Vernon to New 
York when girls strewed flowers in his path. Other papers, under various 
names, were subsequently started here, but all were soon consolidated as the 
Alexandria Gazette and Virginia Advertiser, which eventually became the 
Alexandria Gazette that survives today. By 1800—about the time consoli¬ 
dation was effected—Samuel Snowden had acquired control of the papers, 
and the Gazette continued under his editorship and those of his son and 
grandsons until 1911, when the family sold it. The paper’s files, kept here 
in steel cabinets, are unbroken except for a few early issues and those of the 
1860’s, when, because of the Gazette’s anti-Union sentiment, Federal authori¬ 
ties suppressed its publication. However, the editor continued with a one- 
page sheet called Local News. In 1862 Local News gave an account of the 
scene in St. Paul’s Church, when Federal soldiers dragged the rector from 
the pulpit to the provost marshal’s office for his failure to include in the 
service the prayer for the President of the United States. The following 
night Federal soldiers burned the paper’s building and plant. But the 
Gazette moved to other quarters and published a small double-sheet. 

8. STABLER-LEADBETTER’S APOTHECARY (open 10-4:30 weekdays, 
adm. free), 107 S. Fairfax St., one of the oldest drug stores in America, was 
in active operation until 1933 and has been restored by the American Phar¬ 
maceutical Association. It occupies the ground floor of a three-story brick 
building and presents two little bay windows to the street. Among its origi¬ 
nal equipment are flint glass bottles, mortars with pestles, measures, scales, 
weights, and thermometers. Old account books and prescription files are 
also preserved. 

Edward Stabler, a Quaker from Petersburg, Virginia, founded the 
business in 1792 in a shop next door on the corner of King and Fairfax 
Streets. Although John Leadbetter, who had married the granddaughter 
of the founder, took charge of the firm in 1852, it was carried on by Stabler’s 
descendants for nearly a century and a half. The account books show that 
drugs were purchased here by the Washington, Lee, and Fairfax families and 
by such notables as Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and John C. Calhoun. 
A note written by Martha Washington is in the files, and one by Nellie 
Custis (Mrs. Lawrence Lewis), which reads: "Mr. Stabler will oblige Mrs. 
Lewis by sending 2 ozs borax, 2 boxes of Lee’s pills, 2 boxes such pills as 
Mrs. Robinson uses, prepared by Mr. Stabler.” Robert E. Lee was in this 
store on October 17, 1859 when Lieutenant J. E. B. Stuart delivered to him 
orders from the War Department to proceed to Harpers Ferry to suppress 
John Brown’s insurrection. 


18 


9. The OLD PRESBYTERIAN MEETING HOUSE (open 9:30-5 daily, 
April to Oct.; adm. 10c), 321 S. Fairfax St., is a large, rather austere hall of 
red brick with a broad gable-roof and two tiers of tall windows. A square 
tower built out at the west end is topped by a latticed balustrade and a square, 
well-proportioned cupola of wood with pilasters. The handsome white in¬ 
terior—with box-pews, open gallery, and a semi-domed recess in the wall 
behind the pulpit centered at one end—is simple and dignified. 

The meeting house, abandoned since 1886 as a place of worship, was 
built in 1836 after a former building erected on a different site, though in the 
same yard, had been destroyed by fire the preceding year. Since Alexandria 
was founded chiefly by Scottish Presbyterians, a "Presbyterian Society” had 
been organized here under the leadership of the Reverend David Thom 
soon after the town was established. The Presbyterians held meetings in the 
Market House under license of the General Court—though with the injunc¬ 
tion that the doors should be kept open. Washington, a communicant of the 
Established Church, attended the meetings and contributed toward the build¬ 
ing of the society’s first church. In 1773 Richard Arrell and his wife Eleanor 
conveyed for the meeting house "in consideration of one shilling sterling 
the lots 90 and 91 in the plat of Alexandria town” in trust to the Reverend 
William Thom, who had succeeded his father. Construction of the building, 
though begun in 1774, was not finished until after 1790 when an act of the 
General Assembly authorized the trustees to raise by lottery £500 toward 
"completing the building of a church in the town of Alexandria for the use 
of the members of the Presbyterian Society.” The church had a tower—the 
first in Alexandria—and in the belfry was hung the town’s first church bell, 
destroyed when the building burned in 1835. The Reverend James Muir 
(1757-1820), pastor of the congregation from 1789 to 1820, was chaplain of 
the Alexandria Lodge of Masons and in that capacity participated in the 
laying of the cornerstone of the Federal Capitol in 1793 and officiated at 
Washington’s funeral. 

In the treeless yard is the white marble Table-Tomb of the so-called 
Unknown Soldier of the Revolution, as are graves of many of the city’s 
founders—among them, those of the Reverend James Muir, Dr. James Craik, 
Colonel John Carlyle, and Colonel Dennis Ramsay. 

10. The CRAIK HOUSE (private), 210 Duke St., a forlorn red brick 
building, has brick string-courses that mark the floor levels and large dentils 
along the facade cornice. From the gabled roof project two dormers with 
round-arched windows. 

The house was built about 1790 and was the home and office of Dr. 
James Craik (1730-1814), who had been assistant director general of army 
hospitals during the Revolution. Dr. Craik, a surgeon of Scottish ancestry, 
whom Washington referred to in his will as "my old and intimate friend,” 
accompanied Washington throughout his entire military career, from Great 
Meadows to Yorktown. He attended the dying Braddock in 1755, saw Hugh 
Mercer breathe his last at Princeton in 1777, dressed Lafayette’s wounds at 
Brandywine, stood with Washington at the bedside of John Parke Custis 


19 



Stabler-Leadbetter’s Apothecary Shop 



Presbyterian Meeting House 









after the Siege of Yorktown in 1781, and it was he who was called early on 
the morning of December 14, 1799 to administer to Washington in his last 
illness. "I kissed the cold hand, which I had held in my bosom,” he said 
later, "laid it down, and for some time was lost in profound grief.” When 
Martha Washington died in 1802, he was at her bedside also. 

11. The CORYELL HOUSE (private), 208 Duke St., a tottering "flounder” 
house of frame, leans rather pathetically against the Craik house. Its steep, 
single-surfaced lean-to roof—low on one side and high on the other—earns 
for it the descriptive term "flounder,” which is applied to several similar 
houses of brick in Alexandria. It was built in 1790 on a lot once owned by 
Dr. Craik and was the home of George Coryell, who, with his father, Cor¬ 
nelius Coryell of New Jersey, ferried Washington across the Delaware River 
on Christmas Eve 1776. George Coryell, whose admiration for Washington 
led him to make his home in Alexandria, was one of the active pallbearers 
at Washington’s funeral. 

12. The ROBERDEAU HOUSE (private), 418 S. Lee St., a three-story 
brick building with the familiar flat arches of stone above each front window, 
was built soon after 1783-84 by General Daniel Roberdeau, a patriot in the 
war for independence and a native of Philadelphia. Roberdeau, of Hugue¬ 
not descent, headed one of America’s first textile mills, founded in Phila¬ 
delphia in 1775. At the beginning of the Revolution he was appointed 
brigadier general of Pennsylvania militia. He operated a lead mine and at 
his own expense furnished bullets for Washington’s army. A member of the 
Continental Congress (1777-1779), he signed the Articles of Confederation 
and approved Lafayette’s application for a commission. After the Revolu¬ 
tion, like other followers of Washington, he came to Alexandria to be near 
his commander-in-chief. Here he introduced one of the town’s early in¬ 
dustries—the manufacture of leather breeches. 

13. The ALEXANDRIA ACADEMY BUILDING (open school hours), 
SE. corner Wolfe and Washington Sts., is a three-story red brick building 
with a single chimney on one end of a plain gable-roof. White monolithic 
lintels over the windows have small ornamental blocks set beneath each end. 
The chief architectural feature is a nicely-proportioned doorway at one side 
of the facade. 

This house, which once housed the Alexandria Academy, was built by 
Colonel Philip Marsteller, another Pennsylvanian who served in the Con¬ 
tinental Army and after the Revolutionary War made his home in Alexandria. 
Colonel Marsteller, a member of the Continental Congress from Pennsylvania 
in 1776, became Alexandria’s mayor (1790-92). 

The Alexandria Academy was founded in 1785. The cornerstone of its 
first building, on another site, was laid on September 7th of that year with 
Masonic ceremonies. When it was incorporated in 1786, George Washington 
was named in the charter as one of the fourteen trustees. At its founding, 
Washington had established in connection with the academy a free school— 
the first in Northern Virginia—"for the education of Orphan and other 
poor Children.” He made an annual contribution to this school until his 
death, then endowed it in his will. 


21 


After many years the old building was pulled down to make room for 
other buildings, and the academy transferred to this house. It was at this 
academy that Robert E. Lee received part of his education. The academy 
continued—except for an interruption during the War between the States— 
until 1882. 

14. The LAFAYETTE HOUSE (private), SW. corner Duke and St. Asaph 
Sts., is a red brick house of three stories. White trim includes keystoned 
flat arches above pleasantly spaced windows, an oval light in the gable on 
each side, and a balustrade along the front parapet crowning the facade. 
The outstanding feature is a wide, round arch that frames the off-center 
entrance door with fan and side-lights delicately traced. There is a good 
deal of finely carved woodwork in the interior. 

The house, built in 1795 by Thomas Lawrason, is one of the best ex¬ 
amples of Federal Georgian architecture in the city. In 1825 Lawrason’s 
widow lent it to Lafayette, who stayed here for some time during his last 
visit to America. 

15. The OLD LYCEUM HALL (private), SW. corner Washington and 
Prince Sts., is a two-story brick building, stuccoed, painted yellow, and lined 
to imitate stone blocks. It was built in 1839 and is a good example of the 
Greek Revival style, rare in Alexandria. The four columns of the tall Doric 
portico are fluted. A full triglyphed entablature is carried all around. 
This white-painted trim against the yellow walls gives a serenity that is en¬ 
hanced by the absence of any lintel effect over the shuttered windows. 

The hall was built to house a society organized in 1834, under the 
leadership of Benjamin Hallowell, the Quaker schoolmaster, to promote 
interest in literature, science, and history. On the first floor were a library 
and reading room beneath a hall where lectures were given. Hallowell was 
the society’s first president and delivered the first lecture—on vegetable 
physiology. Politics and religion were banned. Among other lecturers were 
John Quincy Adams and Caleb Cushing. During the War between the 
States the hall was used as a hospital. The Little Theater presents pro¬ 
ductions here occasionally (1939). 

16. The LORD FAIRFAX HOUSE (private), 607 Cameron St., is a large 
L-shaped town house of red brick—three storied on the street and extended 
far back into its garden by a two-story wing. String-courses of white stone 
across the tall facade mark the two upper floor levels. A single blind arch 
with white-stuccoed surface rises from the first string-course and compre¬ 
hends the two centered windows of the upper stories. Below is the entrance 
door deeply recessed within an arched vestibule and flanked by slender pilas¬ 
ters and delicate columns. All the window-heads are arched with brick. 
The best of the fine interior woodwork is in the drawing room. In this room 
are pilastered alcoves, a carved mantelpiece, and a Palladian window. A 
stairway with mahogany banisters winds about an oval well in the hall. 
Brick stables behind the garden are used now for cars. 

The house was built in 1816 by William Yeaton. In 1830 it was pur¬ 
chased by Thomas, Lord Fairfax, ninth Baron of Cameron and son of the 


22 


Reverend. Bryan Fairfax. Lord Fairfax lived here until his death in 1846, 
when the house passed to his son, Dr. Orlando Fairfax. 

17. The ROBERT E. LEE HOUSE (private), 607 Oronoco St., a pink 
brick building with white trim, is finished off above its two stories by a neat 
cornice and a long gabled roof pierced by two dormers far apart. Between 
them a small classical pediment rises chastely from the roof-line over a 
slightly projecting central portion of the fagade. The Federal Georgian 
doorway and windows, with flat arches of white stone, are widely spaced. 
A garden at the rear, covering about an acre, remains almost as it was a 
hundred years ago. Several mantels and a well-turned staircase grace the 
interior. 

This house, bearing a tablet marked "1795,” was begun, it seems, about 
1793 and owned in 1795 by John Potts. In 1799 it was purchased by Colonel 
William Fitzhugh, builder of Chatham (near Fredericksburg). It was here 
that Washington was entertained for the last time as a guest—on Sunday, 
November 17, 1799, when he "went to Church in Alexandria and dined with 
Mr. Fitzhugh.” In 1818 Ann Hill Carter Lee moved here with her children 
from another house in Alexandria, which her family had occupied since 
1811. Here Robert E. Lee, then eleven years old, passed the rest of his 
boyhood. On October 16, 1824 General Lafayette called at this house to pay 
his respects to the widow of "Light Horse Harry” Lee and met her son, who, 
as assistant marshal of a parade, had participated in Alexandria’s wel¬ 
come to Lafayette the day before. 

18. The HALLOWELL SCHOOL BUILDING (private), 609 Oronoco 
St., built about 1793, shares a common chimney with its architectural counter¬ 
part, the Lee House next door. The brick of this house, however, is sandy- 
pink, and the trim cream colored. 

For many years Benjamin Hallowell conducted here a school that he 
founded in 1825. Until 1820 the house had been the home of William 
Hodgson of White Haven, England, who had married Portia, the daughter 
of William Lee, one of the American envoys to European courts during the 
Revolution. 

Benjamin Hallowell first conducted his classes at another site. His 
school was attended not only by sons of prominent Virginia families but also 
by students from Canada and Latin America. Here Robert E. Lee, who lived 
next door, was prepared for his entrance into the U. S. Military Academy. 
His son, George Washington Custis Lee, also attended this school before 
his entrance at West Point. 

19. The PHILIP FENDALL HOUSE (private), 429 N. Washington St., 
is a frame covered brick structure, in early Federal style, with a Victorian 
front porch. The two full stories of the building are crowned by an attic 
with latticed windows under the simple eaves and flat roof. The house is 
lengthened by a gabled rear wing. 

The house, built soon after the Revolution, was the home of Philip R. 
Fendall, an attorney and organizer of the Bank of Alexandria, who main¬ 
tained his office in a small house on a corner of the lot. Fendall connected 


23 
















































himself twice by marriage with the family of "Light Horse Harry” Lee, 
having married first Lee’s mother-in-law, Elizabeth Steptoe, widow of Philip 
Ludwell Lee, then "Light Horse Harry” Lee’s sister, Mary Lee. .In 1792 he 
deeded the Fendall House to his brother-in-law, Richard Bland Lee, the first 
to represent this district in the House of Representatives and the one that 
received the first congressional vote ever cast by a president of the United 
States. For the next half-century the house was a home of the Lee family. 
On December 15, 1799 friends assembled here to make arrangements for 
Washington’s funeral. 

20. The LLOYD HOUSE (private), 220 N. Washington St., a large house 
of dark red brick in Federal Georgian style on a square plan, is one of the 
best examples of domestic architecture in Alexandria. Between pairs of end- 
chimneys with slightly molded tops, trios of dormer windows relieve the 
surfaces of the gabled roof. The diminutive pediment forming the gable 
of each dormer rests upon slender pilasters. The nicely denticulated cornice 
continues all around and frames the gable-ends. The doorway, beautifully 
designed with restraint, is flanked by Corinthian pilasters, which support a 
hollow pediment above a round-arched fan-light. Its design—repeated in 
the dormers—is among the best in a city of good doorways. Perfectly spaced 
windows in two tiers—with a flat-arched lintel of chalk-white stone spread 
above each like a pair of wings—complete a handsome facade. The fine 
brick work in Flemish bond is matched by interior woodwork in modified 
Adam style. The stairway, with slender mahogany banisters, runs up three 
flights, and there are carved mantels in twelve rooms. 

The house was built in 1793 by John Hooe and in 1832 was acquired 
by John Lloyd, in possession of whose family it remained for nearly a 
century. Only the floors have been reconstructed. The detached slave 
quarters have been converted into a garage. 

21. CHRIST CHURCH (open 9-5 weekdays; adm. 10c; services Sun.) 
SE. corner Cameron and Columbus Sts., is a dark red brick building in late 
Georgian Colonial style. The walls, laid in Flemish bond, follow a rectan¬ 
gular plan. Above a cornice with large, widely spaced dentils, a broad hip¬ 
roof spreads down from a short ridge. Quoins of white stone accent the 
vertical corner-line, while keys of similar stone emphasize the brick arches— 
flat below and round above—heading the windows in two tiers. Centered in 
the east wall is a dignified Palladian window with four square pilasters sup¬ 
porting a hollow pediment. Centered before the west fagade is a square 
tower—newer than the main structure—topped by an octagonal belfry in 
three stages—the upper two of white painted wood. Around three sides 
of the simple white interior extends a balcony beneath a pale blue ceiling. 
The canopied pulpit, originally against the north wall, is now centered before 
the middle sash of the Palladian window. 

Christ Church first stood just outside of town. Later, when the limits 
of Alexandria were extended westward, Cameron Street was cut through the 
churchyard. On January 1, 1767 the vestry of the Fairfax Parish, having 
decided to replace frame churches with others built of brick, contracted with 


25 


James Wren to build a brick church at "the Falls” for £599 and 15s and 
with James Parsons to build this church for £600, on land conveyed by 
John Alexander. Parsons, however, failed to fulfill his contract, and his 
project was completed by Colonel John Carlyle in 1773 for an additional 
sum of £220. On February 27, 1773 it was accepted as finished in a "work¬ 
manlike manner.” James Wren was paid £8 for "writing” the Lord’s 
Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and the Creed on panels, still hanging at 
each side of the chancel. The galleries were built in 1807 and the tower 
in 1818. 

Pews were sold to the highest bidders. Washington bought his, which 
is Number 5, for £36. 10s. Colonel William Page was granted the very 
special privilege of placing a seat inside the chancel, so that his wife, who 
was hard of hearing, might enjoy the services. Washington’s generosity is 
further evidenced by the wrought-brass and crystal chandelier, which he 
ordered from England and which was not delivered until almost a score of 
years after his death. George Washington Parke Custis presented a Bible 
owned by his foster father and still in possession of the church, though not 
on exhibit. Robert E. Lee was confirmed at Christ Church. His box-pew 
and that of Washington are marked by silver plates. Federal soldiers, how¬ 
ever, made way with the original Washington plate. During the War between 
the States, while the church was used as a place of worship by officers and 
men of the Northern army, three little girls crept in one night and removed 
the plate from Washington’s pew. When they were discovered by officers 
and asked to explain the theft, one of them answered, "Because we knew 
you would steal it.” The plate was put back, but a few weeks later the 
girl’s prophecy was fulfilled. 

22. FRIENDSHIP FIRE ENGINE HOUSE (open occasionally, adm.lOc), 
107 S. Alfred St., is a little building of red brick with classical trim painted 
white, except for cast-iron acanthus leaves topping the stone pilasters that 
form the jambs of the wide door and iron ornaments upon the projecting 
lintels of two tall windows above. The black figures "1774,” indicating the 
year the fire company was organized, are set in the low pediment above the 
door and again on the square wooden base of a tall octagonal cupola. 

The building, erected after the Revolution, housed the equipment of 
the town’s first fire company, of which Washington was a member and once 
honorary captain. On exhibit is a copy of the engine Washington purchased 
in Philadelphia while attending the first Continental Congress in 1774 and 
presented to the Friendship Fire Company. The original, sold in 1849 to a 
junk dealer, was bought by the Veteran Firemen’s Association of Baltimore 
and is now in a museum in that city. The Friendship Fire Company first 
had its station in a frame building on the Market Square. After its organi¬ 
zation other fire companies were formed, and there was much rivalry among 
the companies. Each volunteer fire fighter pledged himself to furnish two 
buckets and an osnaburg bag—the buckets for handling water and the bags 
to gather small household effects in the event a house could not be saved. 
Parades of the companies on Washington’s birthday, with full equipment 
and with each member in uniform, were annual events. 


26 


23. The GEORGE WASHINGTON MASONIC NATIONAL MEMO¬ 
RIAL TEMPLE (open 9-5 daily), on Shooter’s Hill, intersection King St. 
and Russell Rd., stands upon the site first proposed for the national Capitol 
and vetoed by Washington for personal reasons. It is a sandy-gray stone 
monument in neo-classic style. Resting on a massive square base-structure, 
from the center of which a full Doric portico juts, a great tower rises through 
three diminishing stages to a stepped pyramid. The pinnacle is more than 
four hundred feet above the summit of the terraced hill and commands an 
imposing prospect on every side, including within its sweep many of the 
historic places associated with the memory of Washington. 

In 1909 Charles H. Callahan of Alexandria conceived the idea of a 
great national monument to George Washington, the Mason. At a meeting 
of the Alexandria-Washington Lodge in 1910, such a monument got defi¬ 
nitely under way. Ground was broken on June 5, 1922, and the cornerstone 
was laid November 1, 1923. Designed by Helmi and Corbett, architects, 
of New York, and costing $5,000,000 contributed by more than 3,000,000 
Masons, the temple was dedicated February 22, 1932. It contains, in addition 
to the memorial hall, a large auditorium and ample space for offices, a library, 
and a museum, which will house, when the structure is entirely completed, 
the collection of portraits and various relics now displayed in the museum 
of the Alexandria-Washington Lodge of Masons. 


POINTS OF INTEREST IN ENVIRONS 

(Mileage from intersection of King and Washington Streets) 


Mount Eagle (Lord Fairfax Country Club), southward on US 1 to 
entrance, 1.5 m.; Woodlawn, to entrance, 8.8 m.; Fort Belvoir, to entrance, 
9 m.; Mount Vernon, southward on Mount Vernon Memorial Highway to 
entrance, 9.4 m.; Washington Golf and Country Club, southward on US 1 
to State 9, then (R) on State 9 to entrance, 9.8 m.; Arlington, Arlington 
National Cemetery, and Fort Myer, northward on Mount Vernon National 
Highway to entrance, 7.5 m.; Episcopal High School, westward on State 7 
to entrance, 3 m.; Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary, to entrance, 
3.2 m.; Falls Church, 8.8 m. 





IF- 


George Washington Masonic National Memorial Temple 





























GENERAL INFORMATION 


Railroad Station: Union Station, W. end of King St., for Atlantic Coast 
Line R. R., Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac R. R., Chesapeake 6C Ohio 
Ry., Seaboard Air Line Ry., and Southern Ry. 

Bus Station: NW. corner Washington and King Sts., for Greyhound Bus 
Line. 

Airport: Washington Airport, 4 m. N. on US 1, for Eastern Air Lines, 
American Airlines, and Pennsylvania-Central Airlines; Taxi fare, $1.25. 

Taxis: Fare 20c within city limits, $1.50 to Washington. 

Local Buses: SE. corner Pitt and Cameron Sts., for buses to Washington, 
schedule varies from 5 to 10 minutes, fare 15c; to Mount Vernon, schedule 
varying with season, fare 25c; to Episcopal Theological Seminary, 30-minute 
schedule, fare 10c. 

Piers: Norfolk and Washington Steamboat Co., E. end of Prince St., for 
boat to Old Point Comfort and Norfolk, daily (except when river is frozen), 
7 p. m. schedule, fare $4, staterooms $1 to $5, automobile $1. 

Traffic Regulations: No U-turns in business district, other turns on green 
light; one hour parking limit on King St. 

Accommodations: Four hotels; tourist homes. 

Radio Station: WJSV (1460 kc.). 

Information Service: Chamber of Commerce, 103 N. Alfred St. 

Motion Picture Houses: Four for whites, one for negroes. 

Golf: Belle Haven Country Club, 0.5 m. from city limits on River Rd., 9 
holes, adm. by arrangement, greens fee $1.50 Mon.-Fri., $3 Sat., Sun., and 
holidays. 

Swimming: Alexandria Municipal Pool, NE. corner Cameron and Harvard 
Sts., fee 20c, children 10c, suits 25c, open 9 a. m. - 10 p. m. weekdays, 2-6 
Sun., from May 30 to Labor Day; Belle Haven Country Club, fee 50c. 

Tennis: Belle Haven Country Club, fee 50c; Lord Fairfax Country Club, 
1 m. S. off US 1 (R), 4 courts. 

Boating: Rowboats rented at foot of Prince St. and foot of Duke St., fee 
50c for 1st hour, 35c each additional hour. 

Annual Events: Tour of historic houses and gardens near-by, sponsored by 
St. Paul’s Church and the Alexandria Association, one Sat. in May and one 
Sat. in June, dates varying according to season, $1 for full day and after¬ 
noon tea. 














LIBRARY OF CONGRES 



0 003 387 173 9 


WILLIAMS—ALEXANDRIA 











